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The ice. It always came back to that. Shimmering under the glow of compact fluorescent lights; motes of frozen dust, floating, sibilating, just above the crystalline surface. The solitary sound of metal etching exquisite designs into the flat glacier below. A translucent solace--that’s what it came back to.
His laces whipped against his skates, blowing against the air, paralleling his short, dark hair. He jumped--one rotation, two rotations, three rotations--he landed. Perfect.
It was his first successful triple axel. And it was impressive. Almost unheard of for 12-year-olds. Katsuki Yuuri certainly was amazing.
Amazingly stupid, Takeshi thinks.
Yuuko is clapping, though, and cheering his name. “Yuuri! That was amazing!” Yuuri is skating over now, and his smile is blinding. Takeshi doesn’t think he’s ever seen Yuuri this happy. His eyes wrinkled, nearly squeezed shut, his cheeks dimpled. It was a perfect smile.
Perfectly infuriating, Takeshi thinks.
“Nice triple, fatso!” he blurts. The rink hushed.
He wasn’t even sure why he said it. Maybe he just wanted Yuuri’s attention. His talent. His ability. Whatever the reason, he said it.
And now Yuuri is crying. He’s sobbing. The only difference between the ice floes underfoot and the water flowing down his cheeks is a state of matter.
There’s a loud sound; a smack, maybe, Takeshi’s cheek hurts and it feels kinda warm and tingly, did Yuuko just slap me, she has her arms around Yuuri now, she’s pushing his hair out of the way and whispering into his ear--
“What the hell,” Takeshi storms off, his skates forgotten at the side of the rink.
Yuuko calls out to him, or at least he thinks he hears her, but he doesn’t turn back. No, if she’s going to give that much attention to Yuuri, then there’s no reason for Takeshi to give her any attention.
---
He ends up apologizing the next day.
“It’s alright,” Yuuri assures him, albeit halfheartedly. Takeshi notices the slight redness in his eyes and the way the light reflects off of it.
Takeshi shakes his head and puts his hands on Yuuri’s shoulders. “No, it’s not. Don’t say it’s alright if it’s not. You have to stick up for yourself.”
“Really, Takeshi, it’s fine--”
“No, it’s not!”
Yuuri gulps, and Takeshi sighs before letting his hands fall from Yuuri’s shoulders. “Yuuri, you’re the best skater our age that I know, and that’s saying a lot.” Takeshi looks at the rink. “You land difficult jumps more often than I do, and your step sequences are much more complex than mine; heck, you landed a triple axel yesterday!”
Yuuri blushes now--he really doesn’t know how to take a compliment--and Takeshi isn’t sure why, but he blushes too.
Takeshi continues. “What I said yesterday was not only untrue, but also completely inappropriate.” He sighs, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “... you looked beautiful out there.”
“B-Beautiful?!” Yuuri stammers, his mouth hanging open even after he utters the words. “I-I’m not beautiful! And you were right! I am fat!” His voice had been getting louder, but he quiets now, and his eyes traces the patterns on the carpeted floor. “I’m not beautiful.”
Takeshi grips Yuuri’s shoulders and a hard gaze crosses his eyes. “Yes, you are.”
The room goes quiet.
Takeshi swears he could hear a pin drop but that’s not right, the floor is carpet and he’s shocked by what he let leave his mouth, and he's overcome by shock, and how could I let that leave my mouth, Yuuri seems shocked too, when is Yuuri going to answer, it has to have been an hour--
“Y-You… You think I’m beautiful?”
“I don’t know what I think!” Takeshi retorts, suddenly shrinking away. “I don’t know what I think…” he mumbles.
And it’s true, he doesn’t know what he thinks. Was Yuuri beautiful? His skating surely was. And he liked watching him skate, watching his body move in time with the music, bending, twisting, gliding across the ice.
Takeshi suddenly adjusts, shoulders squared. His face is set like marble as he moves to stand in front of Yuuri, only inches away now.
“Take--” Yuuri starts, but he doesn’t get to finish.
Takeshi’s lips have crashed into Yuuri’s, and his hands on are on Yuuri’s face now, and it’s something that neither of them were expecting. There are pinpricks of heat that bristle down Takeshi’s spine, and they stay there for awhile. His whole body is warm, and his lips are warm, but Takeshi is still kissing Yuuri, and his eyes are closed.
And Yuuri’s are still wide open.
Takeshi pulls away, and he see Yuuri’s eyes. He knows they were open the whole time.
He lets the hands that were on Yuuri’s face fall to his side. And he turns and runs.
“Takeshi, wait!” Yuuri cries out, but his words fall on ignorant ears, and he’s suddenly outside the Ice Castle.
The air is biting, and Takeshi’s wearing a short-sleeved muscle shirt, but he’s not going to run back in to get the rest of his stuff. The wind is just as unforgiving, gusts of spite slashing at his ears and his nose. Streaks of water run down his face, and he’s afraid that they’ll freeze there.
He's only just left the Ice Castle's doors before he slams into Yuuko, sending her to the ground.
“Ow, Takeshi!” Yuuko whines, rubbing her sore and snowy behind. “What was that for?”
Takeshi can’t reply though--doesn’t want to. He looks away, his tears poorly hidden as they fall onto the snow below. He thinks Yuuko doesn’t notice, he hopes, but Yuuko notices, and she’s at his side now.
“Takeshi…” she says, rubbing his arm. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he replies, still looking away.
Yuuko is still rubbing his arm, but she coerces his head up, ever the persistent one. “Take, I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” The snow is still falling on Takeshi’s blush and cold reddened ears, and he’s breathing loudly, but Yuuko is rubbing his arm, and he’s calming down, if only a little.
Takeshi takes a deep, shuddering breath. “C-Can we talk about it somewhere else?”
---
“You kissed Yuuri?!”
Takeshi rushes forward and plants his hands over her mouth, his head whipping around in a frenzy. “Say it a little louder, why don’t you?!” he hisses.
Yuuko smirks and scoots away from Takeshi before yelling even louder. “Takeshi kissed Yuuri!” Takeshi doesn’t even try to stop her this time. He’s just burying his scarlet face in his french fry greased hands and hoping that people understand that he’s not the only Takeshi in Japan. But she’s laughing hysterically, and he guesses it’s a little cute, so he lets it slide.
“Why am I friends with you,” Takeshi moans into his hands.
“Aw, it’s alright. I always knew you were at least a little gay.” she teases, tapping him on the nose.
“I’m not gay!”
“You kissed Yuuri!”
“But I like girls!”
“And boys, apparently!”
Takeshi huffs and crosses his arms against his chest. “I’m not gay.”
“You’re bisexual,” Yuuko responds nonchalantly, shrugging. “It’s not like you’re the first person to ever be bisexual.”
“You’re so embarrassing…”
Yuuko scoots over next to Takeshi and slings an arm around her shoulder. “You know, it’s kinda cute when you’re flustered.” Her hand is on his arm again, just like before, and Takeshi isn’t sure why he’s blushing now.
“Yuuko--”
She brings a finger to his face, and Takeshi doesn’t realize his eyes have darted down to see it land on his lips until it’s already there. “Look--”
“Yuuko, stop.” Her eyes widen, and she drops her finger. Takeshi sighs. “I’m not ready for this. I mean, I literally just kissed Yuuri an hour ago.”
Yuuko smiles and sits up straight. “Sorry. Let’s get out of here though, alright? Get our minds focused on something else.”
Takeshi considers this for a moment, and before long he’s smiling too, and he nods his head.
“Great!” Yuuko grabs Takeshi’s face again, and he’s worried he’s gonna melt with all the blushing he’s been doing tonight, but then she wipes at his lip and smirks. “You had ketchup there ever since you got more fries.”
Takeshi groans.
--- 12 years later ---
“I’m telling you, I left them on the key rack!”
“Well they aren’t there now!”
Takeshi grumbles; he definitely left the keys there. Yuuko was losing her mind. Must be because the kids are driving her up a wall.
“Well the kids can’t drive and I left them there, so…”
“I know you aren’t implying that I lost them!”
Aw, man. Now she’s really mad.
A long sigh leaves his mouth as he leans against the pine green wall of their living room. “Not at all, Yuu. Let me retrace my steps real quick.”
Yuuko peeks her head around the kitchen corner and smirks. “Good. I didn’t want to pull out my trump card just now… I don’t think you want me to pull it out either!”
“Trump card…?” Takeshi muses, checking the sofa cushions.
“You know… that kiss.” she trails off, heading back to whatever she was doing in the kitchen.
“Yuuko, we’ve kissed thousands of times.”
“I’m not talking about when we kissed,” she coos from behind the walls.
Takeshi pales, and he suddenly realizes what she’s talking about. “Alright, well, I’m glad we didn’t bring that up just now.”
She runs back in though and jumps into the unexpecting arms of Takeshi, who has just enough time to grab hold of her mirth filled frame before they both fall unceremoniously to the ground. She’s laughing when she says it. “Aw, but the fact that you and Yuuri kissed is just too adorable!”
“Y-Yuuko!” he stammers as a rose tinge covers his face. God, I hope the kids weren’t around to hear that. “Let’s… not shout that to the world, shall we?”
“Oh!” Yuuko says, her eyes widening, her hand jumping to her mouth. “I forgot the girls didn’t know about that yet!”
From behind the couch come muffled snickers, and Takeshi’s eyes are wider than they’ve ever been in his entire life. He gets up quickly and quietly, Yuuko rolling onto the ground with a thud, forgotten. On the other side of the couch is a blanket covered mass of three lumps and giggles.
“Axel! Lutz! Loop!”
Lutz giggles and finishes typing something on her phone. “Katsuki Yuuri’s sexual awakening--earlier than we thought??”
Axel snickers and reaches over to steal her phone. Before Takeshi knows it, there’s a bright flash and Axel is typing something out too. “Nishigori Takeshi, pictured below, steals away Yuuri’s first kiss from Viktor???”
Loop is doubled over, her snickers now cackles as her sisters set the figure skating world of social media aflame.
“G-Girls, you’re not seriously going to post that, are you?!” Takeshi stutters, his face beet red. I won’t ever be able to show my face in public again.
“Daddy, we posted that as soon as we finished typing it out,” Lutz replies. Great. She has her mother’s tact and her father’s brashness. Takeshi falls onto the couch and puts a hand to his forehead.
“Yuuko, cancel our dinner with Viktor and Yuuri tonight.”
“Takeshiiiiiiii--”
“What kind of monsters did we raise.”
“Takeshi! Don’t call our kids monsters!” Yuuko berates, flicking him in the nose. “Besides, they’re just kids! It’s not like the whole world’s gonna find out!”
“Have you seen the number of followers they have?!”
Axel steps up, her face smiling innocently. “Mommy, I just got 16 followers yesterday!”
“More like 16 million,” Takeshi mutters under his breath.
Yuuko melts, beaming at her little girl in front of her. “Oh my word, Takeshi, just look at how innocent she looks!” Axel takes this chance to go give her mom a hug. The moment her mom bends over and embraces her…
She gives Takeshi the biggest shit-eating grin he’s ever seen in his life.
He gets up and heads for the door. “I’m going for a walk.”
Yuuko bolts up and beats him to the door. “No, you’re not! We’re leaving for dinner as soon as Minako gets here!”
He’s dreading this dinner. But there’s something much worse, something on it’s way right now, a something probably following all three of the triplets’ Instagram accounts.
The door swings open, no knocks, no rings, and she sprints inside. And Okukawa Minako, the babysitter for the night, whips around to face Takeshi.
“You kissed Yuuri?!”
---
“Everyone knows now!”
“Oh, stop being such a drama queen, Take. Not everyone knows. I’m sure Minako is just one their few followers.”
“Few?! You don’t understand!”
“You think 16 is a lot?!”
“She has more than 16 followers, Yuu.”
He’s met with a hand, and she strolls past him to meet the hostess. ”Hi, we’re meeting our two friends, the name should be Nikiforov?”
The hostess smiles politely and extends an arm. “Right this way.”
It was a pleasant restaurant. Quiet; dimly lit. Wine wafted from the carpets, the redolence of fresh bread hugging the tables. Takeshi could understand why Viktor and Yuuri would come here.
Oh no. There’s no way Viktor doesn’t know.
“I don’t feel so good, Yuu.”
“Oh, stop avoiding the inevitable. I’m sure Viktor coaxed it out of Yuuri awhile ago anyway,” Yuuko sighs. “Though, it’s still a little disappointing for me, knowing that I wasn’t the first one to kiss you. Imagine how Viktor must feel…”
“Yuuko!”
She snickers as Viktor and Yuuri come into view. Yuuri waves and does that adorably dimpled smile he always does. Viktor waves too, and his hand is clearly on Yuuri’s leg under the table and isn’t he sitting a little close to Yuuri, even if they are a couple?
“Friends!” Viktor calls out, beckoning them to the table. “I’m so glad you could make it!” Takeshi and Yuuko take their place at the table, unfolding their napkins and placing them onto their laps.
"Viktor, Yuuri! So nice to see you both!" Yuuko exclaims. Takeshi only offers a pained grin.
The hostess pours wine into their glasses. “This is a vintage Bordeaux, Haut-Brion from 1989.”
Yuuko’s eyes widened. “Oh, you shouldn't have,” she starts, before taking a sip. “This is delicious, Viktor!”
He waves his hand. “It’s nothing, really, but you gotta try the bread!” Viktor exclaims, perhaps a bit too excitedly, before putting a piece into his mouth.
“Vkusno!” he shouts as he visibly squeezes Yuuri’s thigh. Takeshi isn’t sure whether he was talking about the taste of the bread or about Yuuri, and did Yuuri just yelp, Yuuko is laughing, as per usual, and Takeshi hasn’t had enough wine yet.
Takeshi laughs nervously as he leans towards Yuuko. “He knows…”
“Oh, just relax and drink the fancy wine.”
Takeshi mumbles something incoherent before doing what he’s told. She’s right though, the wine is good. And maybe it’s just what he needs to get through this night.
His thoughts are interrupted, though, when he feels a hand on his own thigh.
“And if he thinks he can be more possessive than I can…” Yuuko whispers into Takeshi’s ear, his face heating up quickly. “He’s got another thing coming.”
Takeshi's face blooms burgundy, and it's unclear whether it's from the wine or his feelings, but he finds he doesn't really care.
And while he may have had a crush on Yuuri first, he knows that nothing would ever make him leave Yuuko. Takeshi smiles before putting his hand on Yuuko’s leg, and his hand might’ve moved down a little, and Yuuko might’ve coughed up some wine.
But Takeshi was happy and so was Yuuko and so was Yuuri (and Viktor might’ve been a little bit possessive but he was probably happy too). So Takeshi leans over and kisses Yuuko, and Yuuko leans her head on his shoulder.
And Takeshi is happy.